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Pro-Vaccine Messaging Isn't Effective, Says Study

the MPR take:

Would a picture of a child infected with a disease preventable by MMR vaccine increase your likelihood of vaccinating your child? Apparently not. A recent study published in the journal Pediatrics discusses the outcomes of a survey experiment conducted in 1759 parents with children under the age of 18 residing in their homes. Parents received one of 4 pro-vaccine interventions 1) information from the CDC showing lack of evidence connecting MMR to autism; 2) written information about diseases that can be prevented with MMR vaccination; 3) pictures of children suffering from diseases that could have been prevented by MMR vaccination; and 4) a fact sheet from the CDC detailing the story of an infant who almost died from measles. The study showed that none of these interventions made parents want to vaccinate a future child. For some parents, these interventions actually increased misperceptions that vaccines could caused serious side effects. The researchers concluded that more effective ways of pro-vaccine messaging need to be investigated.

Pro-Vaccine Messaging Isn't Effective, Says Study

OBJECTIVES: To test the effectiveness of messages designed to reduce vaccine misperceptions and increase vaccination rates for measles-mumps-rubella (MMR). METHODS: A Web-based nationally representative 2-wave survey experiment was conducted with 1759 parents age 18 years and older residing in ...